Wednesday, May 20, 2015

EXCLUSIVE: Hillary hides from reporters with SECOND secret party of the day as her security forces race across Iowa at 95 MPH to dodge pursuing journalists

For reporters trying to cover the opening months of Hillary Rodham Clinton's second presidential campaign, Waterloo, Iowa might be her Waterloo.

On Monday night the Clinton camp held a private campaign party at the home of a wealthy pharmacist in the central Iowa town – a longtime Democratic Party figure – and Daily Mail Online was the only media outlet to make it to the address.

Other press outlets can't be faulted, however: Clinton's aides kept the existence of the party a secret, leaving it off of the schedule circulated to reporters who cover her events in a rotating 'pool.'

Daily Mail Online only found the location after trailing the candidate's motorcade at a distance for an 85 miles trek, at speeds reaching 95 mph.

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SCENE OF THE DODGE: Hillary Clinton's motorcade cruised from Mason City, Iowa to Waterloo, Iowa at speeds topping 95 MPH, arriving at a secret party hosted by Bob and Cheryl Greenwood in their palatial home

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Bob Greenwood, pictured with his wife Cheryl, is a pharmacist who unsuccessfully ran for the Iowa state legislature in 2012 and served three terms on the Waterloo, Iowa city council. The Greenwoods hosted a Monday night party for Hillary Clinton that was hidden from reporters

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IT'S ALL FUN AND GAMES: Clinton laughed with local campaign organizer Sara Marino at an earlier campaign stop, the only Monday event that the campaign told journalists about

Clinton's motorcade arrived at the 5,000-square-foot Waterloo home of Bob and Cheryl Greenwood at 6:30 pm, with five escort vehicles accompanying her maroon minivan.

The ordinary Chrysler rental was a surprising stand-in for Scooby, the black custom conversion van that had previously ferried Hillary through Iowa and New Hampshire.

The Greenwoods' neighbors were expecting traffic in their upscale cul-de-sac subdivision.

'This has been in the works for weeks,' one elderly attendee said as she walked down Muirfield Street. 'We've been counting the days.'

She followed two middle school-age children at a distance up the tree-swept street. They carried copies of books for Clinton to autograph.

It's a scene that might have done Clinton a world of good to have preserved on video: cars lining up on a neighbor's lawn like a summer concert parking lot, kids in their Sunday Best on a Monday and locals arriving with 'Hillary 2016' buttons already pinned and stickers neatly pressed on.

A middle-aged woman said as she left and walked toward a nearby church parking lot that there were 'about 75 people' inside. 'We had a blast. A grand time,' she crowed. 'You should have seen it!'

MAROON SCOOBY, UNLOADED: Clinton and her entourage bedded down for the night at the Hilton Garden Inn in Waterloo, Iowa, racing to the back entrance so the candidate could sneak in without interacting with hotel guests

An earlier afternoon event in Mason City, Iowa, managed to attract a swarm of photographers and cable news correspondents who grabbed images of the arriving motorcade even though the location was a tightly held secret.

'Hillary will attend a grassroots-organizing event at a Mason City home,' the campaign's press schedule read, noting its location only as 'Mason City, IA.'

It was the only item on Clinton's agenda – officially. Reporters shouted questions as Clinton left, but she acknowledged no one.

In Waterloo, they didn't have the chance to be actively ignored.

'It's maddening,' a print journalist who was in Mason City for Monday's earlier event said in the evening, asking to remain anonymous for the sake of her career.